nihongo wo benkyou shitai

A while ago we looked at the use of 'but' to link two statements that had opposite meanings. We discovered that there were several words that could be used, depending on politeness and whether they either started a sentence or came between two clauses.

Today, we're going to expand on that by adding the concepts of 'despite', 'regardless of' and 'in spite of'. As if life weren't complicated enough, Japanese offers a few ways to convey these concepts, but here we'll look at three methods, all JLPT2 (oooo, aren't we getting a bit advanced :-)). They are:

• のに
• にもかかわらず
• にかかわらず

Are we sitting comfortably?


Despite & In Spite Of

First, an example of this could be useful:

1. The restaurant was expensive but the food was good.
2. The restaurant was cheap but the food was good.

These two sentences actually convey separate meanings. In the first sentence we get the impression of 'in line with expectations' whereas in the second sentence we get the impression of 'contrary to expectations'. Let's rewrite them adding a bit...

1. The restaurant was expensive but, in it's defense, the food was good.
2. The restaurant was cheap but, despite this, the food was good.

See the difference?

As far as I can tell, both のに and にもかかわらず have essentially the same meaning. They link two factual clauses and grammatically state "Despite [clause A], [clause B]. Think of our second 'restaurant' sentence above - "Despite [the fact that the restaurant was cheap], [the food was good].


Regardless Of

The third method is にかかわらず. This is probably best translated as 'regardless of'. Maybe an example?

1. Tokyo is always busy, despite which day it is.
2. Tokyo is always busy, regardless of which day it is.

The first sentence really doesn't feel right, does it?

So, just how do you use these in a real Japanese sentence?

のに

• [verb clause (b1, b3, b7)] のに [clause B]
  
• [adjective clause (ーい)] のに [clause B]
• [adjective clause (ーな)] のに [clause B]
• [noun clause] のに [clause B]

Here, with ーな adjectives, do NOT drop the ーな. Also, if cluase A ends in です, change this to ーな.

にもかかわらず & にかかわらず

• [verb clause (b1, b3, b7)] にもかかわらず [clause B]
  
• [adjective clause (ーい)] にもかかわらず [clause B]
• [adjective clause (ーな)] にもかかわらず [clause B]
• [noun clause] にもかかわらず [clause B]

Remember, with ーな adjectives, drop the ーな.

例えば：

English: The restaurant was cheap but, despite this, the food was good.
Jenglish: [restaurant][cheap][despite][food][good]
日本語：　　レストランは安価なのに、料理は美味しかったです。
日本語：　　レストランは安価にもかかわらす、料理は美味しかったです。

English: Tokyo is always busy, despite which day it is.
Jenglish: [day of week][despite][Tokyo][always busy]
日本語：　　曜日にかかわらず、東京はいつもにぎやくです。


またね。。。